Twisted Ever After

by Celeste Thrower

  “Megara, you need to escape,” he goads.

  I return my focus to Hercules and scoff, then stomp on his barefoot with my sandals.

  “Ow! Is that all you got?” he teases. I elbow him in the gut, knee him in his Godly jewels, and bite him all in one motion. He lets go. I grab the knife from his ankle sheath as I take out his knee.

  “Excellent job, Meg!” he praises me, and we kiss each other deeply. I pull back to stare in his eyes, and then they change from pure love to pure horror.

  I gasp. “Herc?”

  Hercules coughs, and blood comes out of his mouth in a spurt.

  “Hercules!” I yell.

  I search my surroundings, trying to find answers, but everything around me shatters and disappears.

  The meadow is gone in an instant, fading from view as if it had been a dream. The furnishings of our home suddenly surround me, it feels sinister and cold. Once my vision fully returns, I am sprawled on the floor with Hercules beneath me.

  “The meadow…” I whisper. I lift my body to see him coughing up blood.

  “It wasn’t real,” he replies, blood splashing with each of his words as if to emphasize them. My hands are soaked with my husband’s blood. The copper stench of it so thick in the air, I become nauseous.

  “Hercules!” I cry. It looks like someone had stabbed him in the gut. I rip my white toga and try to apply pressure to the wound. “What happened?” I ask, tears streaming down my face.

  Hercules smiles weakly. He brings a hand up to my cheek. “Megara, there is something you must know…”

  “Hercules, it’s okay. Help!” I cried, but my husband says my name in a tone I know all too well. It is the tone that means there is something urgent, and I need to listen. The tone my usually aloof and carefree husband reserves only for perilous moments. He knows he’s about to die, and he needs to tell me his secret.

  “Okay. I am listening to you, my love,” I plead.

  “It wasn’t you. Something happened when you died.”

  I have never told Hercules my suspicions. I never told him how I felt only half alive when he brought me back, or how I keep losing time often, and it has increasingly gotten worse in the last few weeks. So bad, in fact, to where it now happens daily. I never told him I struggle because I never want him to worry about me. He is always quick to worry. So many things I never told him and I should have.

  “You knew?” I whisper, and he nods.

  “Megara, I have loved you from the moment I first laid eyes on you in that throne room all those years ago. I always... knew you.” Hercules coughs again. I apply more pressure, my tears still falling. I have to save him! Slowly life is escaping from my husband.

  “Hercules, don’t you dare leave me!” I cry, ripping more of my toga and covering the blood-filled cloth from before.

  “Meg, stop, you must go see Sophia. She can help. There is something sealed inside and with my death; it will…”

  “Don’t speak in riddles when you are dying, damn you!” I glare at him.

  Hercules coughs more blood. “Megara, you have to run. Now.”

  “No, I can’t leave you!”

  “Megara.”

  Hercules dies in my arms, my name the last word on his lips carrying so many emotions.

  I let out a scream for Hades, but he doesn’t answer.

  I swear I hear laughter from behind me. I turn to see one of our servants staring. For a moment, he looks pleased, but then his expression twists into one of horror.

  Panic fills his voice. “Guards! Help! The lady Megara has killed Hercules!”

  ‘“No! I didn’t! I would never! I love him!”

  The guards rush into the house; in a moment, they surround me. I am still straddling my husband, covered in his blood. The knife used to kill him is far too close to me for comfort, dripping with his blood as I lay in a puddle of it.

  “Lady Megara! You are under arrest for the murder of your husband, Hercules!” a guard yells.

  Another picks up the knife, a sacred blade with the symbol of the Cult of Discord on it, I gasp, “No! I would never!”

  Have they found us? Are they the ones who killed my husband? Is this what Hercules was trying to tell me? The guards grab my arms to bind me, but there is a loud boom of thunder, and lightning strikes the living room. The fire catches our wooden villa aflame as gold plated Olympian Soldiers step out of the smoke into view, no doubt sent forth by Zeus to arrest me.

  “Megara!” They say my name with disgust. “You killed an Olympian, the Son of Zeus. You will be brought to Mt. Olympus and punishment will be rendered!”

  “I would never kill Hercules!” I scream. In a flash, the Olympians lunge for me, I swing my arms up to protect myself. The minute my hands raise, black smoke and lightning discharge from my fingertips.

  “A witch?” The guards yell. Within moments there is lightning and smoke everywhere, then it is pitch black. The memories I shared with my now-dead husband are gone. My heart shatters. I would never see this place again. Whether it be the Olympians or the guards that win, my life is over, and my heart is devastated.

  “My lady!” I hear a voice behind me. I turn to see my handmaiden Illiana peering through a secret passage. “Come, my lady! Hurry!”

  I look away from her just in time to see an Olympian lunging through the air towards me; then everything goes black.

  The field is back. Sunshine and butterflies surround me. I am there by myself in the field where I last saw Hercules. A melody dances on the wind as it engulfs me in peace and pulls me to my feet in an instant. I follow the leaves that dance with the melody on the wind. My pale pink toga flows beautifully as I walk, my long brown hair flowing down my back—the way Hercules likes it. Dressed in flowers and a laurel wreath crown as if it were our wedding day.

  As I recall the horrific memories of his death, my heart fills with sadness and loneliness — the man to whom I had been hopelessly devoted. Someone killed him and they blame me. I find my way to a beautiful villa in the middle of the fields. The music flows beautifully from inside of it, urging me to enter. There are no windows or doors, everything is open as the wind blows the white curtains around. The closer I get to the source, the more I delight in the dancing music notes.

  The melody is one Hercules had played on the harp for me on our wedding night before he made love to me. He told me that I…

  I dart across the threshold and into the room where the sound originated from. A man’s back I know so well faces me, his muscles moving as he plays the harp. He is shirtless, with only a white cloth fastened around his waist with a gold cord. As he holds onto the harp, he hums, the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. He turns to look at me, and his lips spread into his heart-stopping smile.

  “Megara,” he greets. “You are the music to my soul.”

  Tears fill my eyes as I heard the words he said to me often. He had learned to play the harp just for me because I had said something about the God Apollo and his music. Hercules was always like that. If he ever thought he needed to change to make me happier, he would, even if it was unnecessary. Hercules worked tirelessly to keep me fulfilled in every aspect of our life.

  ”Hercules...” I reply feeling breathless as I was when he played the harp for me the first time.

  In a moment, his arms envelop me. “I love you, Meg. I believe in you,” he whispers in my ear. It is an echo of words I have said to him a million times. He kisses my head and then fades from view, leaving me alone in a strange white villa. Foreign footsteps echo all around me as darkness slowly starts to creep in. The same smoke and lightning that had infiltrated the peaceful scene earlier reappears, and thunder booms around me. Maniacal laughter resonates around me. I jolt, looking for the source, but the darkness takes over. Soon after, the villa starts to crumble, I scream and run to escape before the villa collapses.

  The ground splits open, revealing bubbling lava. I can see giant creatures trapped below, trying to fight against their cages.

 
An evil voice, so wicked it chills me to my core, booms. “Megara, I am coming for you…..LET. ME. IN.”

  The voice urges me to let it in, and the maniacal laughter consumes me. I am frozen on the spot until the ground disintegrates beneath me. I am free falling; the flames climbing higher to consume me.

  I jerk awake to the concerned gaze of Iliana. “My lady! You are alright!”

  I am soaking wet with sweat and my breathing is labored. After my senses return to me, and I am able to regain control of myself I look over at Illiana once more. She offers me a sad, concerned smile and helps me sit up. “Are you alright, my lady?”

  My eyes close, and a tear runs down my cheek. I meet her gaze again, and before I know it, an explanation of my dream tumbles out of my mouth. She looks at me with horror and shock. She says nothing. Passes no judgment. She studies me and listens intently to my sordid tale, tears flowing down my face and all.

  After I finish speaking, Illiana stands up and paces the length of the room in silence as if she is mulling over what I just dispensed to her.

  “Wait? Where are we, Illiana?” I ask, realizing I am not sitting in my burning home anymore. “What happened? I can’t remember anything.”

  Illiana stops. “I’m not sure what happened. I rushed to your side as the Olympians launched at you, ready to die for you so that you could escape. I grabbed your arm to pull you behind me, and then we were engulfed by a smoky black aura. We appeared somewhere else. Where? I honestly don’t know. I carried you all the way here on my back. We are at a hidden house just outside of our village that Lord Hercules owned in secret, he kept it from you in case something like this were to happen.”

  Illiana lets out a shiver as she tells the tale, causing me anxiety. “What is it, Illiana?”

  “My lady, I…..”

  “Tell me.”

  “The powers you used, they were so dark, so hostile and cold. I have never felt such a chill before.”

  I sigh. “I don’t know what is happening to me. I have never had magic before. I don’t know where it came from.”

  Illiana nods. “Yes. I can tell. All we can do is talk to Sophia. If Lord Hercules said to go there, that’s where I would start.”

  I can tell she is holding something back.“There’s more?”

  Illiana shakes her head in an attempt to lie, and I roll my eyes. “Dishonesty is not a good trait.”

  My hand moves to give her a comforting touch. “Illiana. You are the best handmaiden I have ever had or known. One of the reasons you’ve been in my employ over the years is because you have never been afraid to tell me the truth. I consider you a friend and if my husband told you some secrets, please tell me. You have been released from that bond with his death.”

  She looks at me with tears brimming in her eyes. “Lord Hercules said that when you died, something happened to you. He didn’t tell me what. He warned me to pay close attention to you and make sure I always knew where you were because you were now different. I didn’t believe him at first, until I witnessed things myself. You would have night terrors. We would have to subdue you, and he would whisper precious words over you. It was as if you were being burned from the inside out like you were at war with yourself. Lord Hercules gave me the tools to protect you. He said if anything ever happened to him, you were innocent, and Sophia was the only one who could help you if it came to that.”

  I nod in understanding. I feel foolish that I never confided in him about my fears. I should’ve known better; our relationship was much deeper than that. I never should’ve let my stubbornness interfere with my healing. Now Hercules was dead. How much of this could have been prevented if I had just trusted his love?

  After a few moments, I climb to my feet. “Thank you for being honest, Illiana.” She nods and stands with me. I hug her tightly and kiss her forehead. “Let’s go see Sophia.”

  We pack some supplies and dress like commoners. I pray my disguise keeps me safe until we reach Sophia.

  The journey is rather uneventful until we enter Sophia’s village. In the distance, we see her temple, the Oraculum up on the hill overlooking her prosperous village. Sophia is a powerful Oracle and sought after healer in Greece. Illiana and I exchange glances and make our way through the crowded village. My heart races as a strange sense of danger fills me.

  Something is wrong.

  We climb the built-in steps of the hill leading up to the Oraculum, and the foreboding energy seems to become more and more suffocating.

  “Lady Megara,” Illiana whispers, confirming my suspicions.

  “I feel it, Illiana,” I reply, just as a herd of terrified priests, priestesses, and servants come running down the hill screaming.

  “The Oraculum is burning!” they scream, nearly knocking us over. Once the crowd passes, I dart up the remaining steps and burst into the burning Oraculum.

  A group of guards are pounding on the door of the inner sanctum, desperately trying to reach Sophia, trapped inside as the building crumbles around us. I hear the sounds of a struggle on the other side of the door. Iliana catches up to me, and something happens. My body heaves. It feels as though something is taking over. “Illiana, I… can’t….”

  I desperately fight to regain control of my senses while my limbs move involuntarily. My eyes burn, I clasp my hands over them, then look at Illiana again. She stares at me in horror.“Lady Megara! Your eyes!”

  I rake my hands down my face, “What--what’s wrong with my-”

  “They’re, They’re...yellow!” she exclaims. I open my mouth to say something, but a demonic laugh comes out instead. All I can do is watch in horror as my arm lifts on its own.

  The guards raises with the movement as my arm flings outward and releases a strong outpour of power. I launch the guard across the room. They land on some broken, burning furniture, a piece of wood protruding through each of their hearts. Dead on impact with terrifying precision. I shriek, then my body faces the door and fling my hands toward it. The door bursts open, and Sophia is on the other side wearing her glittering toga. Her gaze rests on me, and the light catches the gold glint of her belt. Upon it, all of her potions, medicines, and scrolls were assembled in a pouch. The ensemble looked both fashionable and efficient.

  “There you are…” a voice that isn’t mine says through my lips.

  Sophia lay beaten and bruised, as the deceased Cult of Discord members encircle her.

  “I dispel you, demon!” Sophia cries when her eyes fall on me. “Megara is my friend. Let her go or face the wrath of the Gods!” Sophia raises her hands toward me, a talisman imprinted on each one glowing brightly with golden light. That same manic chuckle comes from my throat, as a hand reaches out and pulls a golden display blade off of the wall next to me.

  The unfamiliar voice speaks again as my hands flex and move in practiced movements, waving the sword skillfully as if preparing for a battle.“Dispel me? A demon? You have no idea what you are dealing with!”

  Sophia grabs a staff and does the same as she stares at me, and confidently replies, “You will release Megara.”

  With that, my body moves on its own and launches at her. I desperately try to stop it, but something traps me within myself. It feels like it did when I’d black out, but this time I was a witness to my body acting out this horrible scene. Sophia and I battle for a few horribly long moments.

  I kick Sophia back, and she lands hard on her altar, losing grip on the staff.

  “Release her,” Sophia cries, spitting blood and struggling to her feet. She grabs the dagger from the altar and faces me. Her gaze narrows as she yanks a scroll out of her pouch and unrolls it in one motion. My body launches at her as if it knows what she’s trying to do and wants to stop her.

  Before my body can stop her, Sophia slices her wrist and calls out, “Blood of mine, I summon Hades the Lord of the Underworld!”

  “No!” the foreign voice calls out as a flash of smoke protects Sophia. A face I know all too well comes into view. His pale skin frames his haunti
ng yellow eyes; his pearly white teeth grin as he catches my wrists to stop the attack on Sophia.

  “Hello, Megara,” he says.

  The strange voice hisses. “Hades.”

  “Oh, hello, Not Meg,” Hades says with a sneer, my body struggling against him, launching a wave of energy in his direction that pushes him back a few steps. My body relaunches an attack on him, but he sidesteps me and snaps his fingers. Immediately my body is encircled by shadowy restraints. I fall to the floor. I thrash and let out a frustrated growl.

  “I will succeed! I will rise again, Hades!” the voice that isn’t mine says.

  Hades glares at me.“Definitely not Meg.”

  The voice hisses at him again, my body trying to fight against the restraints. Hades rolls his eyes and comes to my side. “What have you and your naughty, annoying husband gotten yourselves into now?”

  My eyes glare. “I will kill you,” the voice inside me hisses.

  Hades rolls his eyes. “Blah, Blah, Blah, that’s enough of that.” He presses a finger to my forehead, and then everything fades to black.

  I wander through the blackness, trying to find the light, The air is heavy and burns as I inhale it.

  Something is wrong here, where am I?

  There is a sound, a groan, and a hiss. I follow the sound.

  It is as if someone is struggling. Should I help them?

  I enter a room and floating blue fireballs cut through the darkness. Once my vision focuses from the new burst of light, I realize the lights encircle a woman in the middle of the room. I press further into the dimly lit space to get a closer look at the woman. Her hauntingly beautiful face lifts to mine with narrowed yellow eyes.

  A chill fills the air, the darkness rippling with dissonance. The woman has black hair and pale skin. She is gorgeous but terrifying. Her white toga is ripped to shreds as if she has been imprisoned forever. She is restrained by black chains and I recognize as Hades’ magic right away. I move closer, trying to get a better look at her, and she fights the chains, which makes me jump. She sneers at me with pearly white teeth as she says my name in a voice I recognize.